Ecuador

Entry Requirements

Citizens of any country can visit Ecuador for a stay of 90 days or less. The exception is formed by citizens of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia, as they are required to obtain a visa in advance.

To/from Colombia

By bus

The major crossing between Ecuador and Colombia is at Rumichaca near Tulcan and Ipiales.From Lago Agrio you can cross to Mocoa, check the Mocoa page.

To/from Peru

By bus

There are several places to cross the border with Peru, though Huaquillas near Machala gets the vast majority of the tourist crossings. Macara and La Balsa (near Zumba are the other options.

By plane

By plane

Quito's new airport is state of the art and will have a modern on-site hotel by the end of the year. It is however, a long trek from Quito. The old airport in the City has been closed and is being transformed into a large park with lake.

Another port of entry is Guayaquil, which has a modern airport that includes the typical amenities such as restaurants and duty-free shopping. The airport is located a few minutes north from downtown.

Quito airport charges an international departure tax of $40.80. The tax is $26 from Guayaquil. This tax is already included in the cost of the flight.

The amazing Galapagos Islands are one of the Ecuadorian provinces and have two airports, one of which is on Baltra and the other is on San Cristobal. Aerogal is the name of the airline which flies to Galapagos. All the flights are through the mainland Ecuador.

By ship

By ship

Since Ecuador is situated at the coast and has some very large rivers, a boat ride is a lovely way to get around. Especially in the rainforest a boat ride can get you to places you usually wouldn't be able to go.

By train

By train

There are no international train services into Ecuador. The national railroad from Quito to Guayaquil Via Lactacunga and Riobamba is being rebuilt, but in the meantime, several sections are running for tourists. The most popular is the the Alausi to Nariz del Diablo section this has resumed service in 2011 after a 4.6 million dollar renovation.

By car

By car

Driving into Ecuador was a great experience, easy border crossing, from Ipiales Colombia to Tulcan Ecuador. SOAT insurance for Ecuador is now required before entry, Only thing that costs is the insurance.

Although it may for some be easier to enter the country by airplane or boat.

Content tagged with wikitravel is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. A list of contributors is available at the original article on Wikitravel.